In large-scale fermentors, non-ideal mixing leads to the development of heterogeneous cell populations. This cell-to-cell variability may explain the differences in e.g. yields for large- and lab-scale cultivations. In this work the anaerobic growth
of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a continuously run microbioreactor is simulated. A multiscale model consisting of the coupling of a population balance model, a kinetic model and a flow model was developed in order to predict simultaneously local concentrations of substrate (glucose), product (ethanol) and biomass, as well as the local cell size distributions.

Original language

English

Title of host publication

Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Process Systems Engineering